Stem deflectors are utilized with crop harvesting machines such as combine harvesters. A combine harvester, or simply combine, is a machine that harvests grain crops. It combines into a single operation a process that previously required three separate operations (reaping, threshing, and winnowing). Among the crops harvested with a combine are wheat, oats, rye, barley, corn (maize), soybeans and flax (linseed). Combines are equipped with removable heads that are designed for particular crops.
Stem deflectors are units that mount to a rear of a combine head (for example, a corn head). A stem deflector bends over the remaining stem after the head has harvested the ear of corn, for example. Stem deflectors typically include springs that bias a shoe against the earth for bending or crushing the stems as the combine travels in a forward direction. These springs are in a substantially compressed state when the stem deflector bends or crushes the stems. In some such stem deflectors, holders for the springs are positioned such that severe compression can cause the springs to “kink-out” or bow to one side, which is undesirable.
Exemplary embodiments of the disclosure address these and other problems, and offer other advantages over the prior art.